MTN Uganda has posted an 8.5% rise in service revenue to Ush 2.8 trillion for the nine months ended 30 September 2026, riding on strong subscriber growth and surging demand for mobile money—even as unauthorised public Wi-Fi resellers took a bite out of third-quarter data growth.
The telecom giant expanded its customer base by 12.5% to 26.4 million subscribers, while profit after tax jumped 21.2% to Ush 571.2 billion, boosted largely by the absence of a one-off tax settlement that weighed on last year’s results.
Digital financial services proved to be a major growth engine. Fintech revenue climbed 11.6% to Ush 902.8 billion over the nine-month period, picking up speed to 13.3% growth in the third quarter alone. Active users on the MoMo app surpassed 832,000.
On the connectivity side, total data traffic surged by 31.9%, pushing nine-month data revenue up 12.8% to Ush 860.6 billion. However, data revenue growth cooled sharply in the third quarter to 7.8%, down from 17.5% in the second quarter.
Management attributed the slowdown to unauthorised resellers buying business fibre and fixed wireless connections and reselling them as cheap, unlimited public Wi-Fi packages—limiting MTN’s ability to turn booming data usage into revenue. Despite the headwinds, home broadband registrations jumped 58.9%.
Operating conditions remained tough due to high fuel, food, and transport costs alongside foreign exchange pressures. While Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortisation (EBITDA) rose 3.0% to Ush 1.5 trillion, MTN’s EBITDA margin narrowed from 53.9% to 51.1% due to higher operating expenses and heavy network spending.
During the nine months, MTN pumped Ush 397.7 billion into capital expenditure (excluding leases), rolling out 255 new network sites and stretching its fibre network past 40,000 kilometres. 4G population coverage now stands at 94%, while 5G coverage reached 25.6%.
“The nine-month performance reflects both the resilience of our business and the pressures facing the industry,” said MTN Uganda CEO Sylvia Mulinge. “While data revenue also increased, unauthorised public Wi-Fi resale is limiting our ability to translate this growing demand into revenue growth. We also continue to see encouraging momentum in fintech.”
Mulinge noted that the company is responding through continued network investment, digital innovation, and tighter operational efficiency, while emphasizing the need for a sustainable telecom environment to protect infrastructure investment.
Looking ahead, MTN Uganda plans to regain commercial momentum and keep full-year EBITDA margins around 50% through strict cost discipline. Key priorities include:
- Expanding Reach via Starlink: Leveraging the MTN Group and Starlink partnership to deliver enterprise connectivity to hard-to-reach areas where traditional network rollouts are difficult.
- Growing Home Broadband: Turning heavy network investments into higher adoption through customer-focused offers and digital channels.
- Embedding MoMo in Daily Life: Driving everyday app transactions—such as Entebbe Expressway toll payments and Travel by MoMo bookings—backed by an expanding agent and merchant network.
